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3.67 AVERAGE
3.67 AVERAGE
reflective
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Very relatable (to me, at least), with sharp and poignant insights about class and rural America and the strange ethics of writing. I had trouble putting it down, honestly, always wondering what would come next. But I could never really pin Owen down. Even as I deeply related to him, I didn’t really root for him, or get him, or want him and Alma to work out. Not a ton of plot, just a lot of important and insightful conversations.
slow-paced
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
too insufferable even for me.
had some interesting takes on Kentucky and the bittersweet feeling of home, but all the characters were SO flat and boring.
had some interesting takes on Kentucky and the bittersweet feeling of home, but all the characters were SO flat and boring.
'I've always had the same predicament. When I'm home, in Kentucky, all I want is to leave. When I'm away, I'm homesick for a place that never was.'
The writing is really beautiful but the story itself fell flat for me. Especially the romance plot line…I couldn’t get over the feeling “do these two even like each other?”
Wonderful debut novel about a young man at a crossroads. It’s 2016 and he’s moved back to his native Kentucky but has a love hate relationship with the state and the people. He gets a job as a groundskeeper at the local university so he can take a graduate level writing class for free. The class turns out to be a joke, but he meets a young female visiting writer at an MFA party and falls in love. She is Muslim from New Jersey and he is Baptist raised from Kentucky. We learn that people have a lot more to them then the labels we use to describe them.
often times morbidly depressing and other times hopeful, an interesting insight into how your experiences shape your perceptions. plus some memorable quotes and new information on a state i previously knew nothing about.
This was readable but not enjoyable, a novel about the mundane and tedious. Many novels talk about the mundane as they develop a world and grow the characters, but Cole's lingering over minutiae does not contribute to any of this kind of world and character building. The writing is stilted and flat, the characters poorly developed, and the plot moseys about aimlessly.
Vague spoiler: the primary characters, Owen and Alma, come with a bundle of red flags each. They are poor communicators who repeatedly judge one another and fail to have mature exchanges. Cole gives us deeply flawed primary characters who don't have any particularly endearing or redeeming qualities. Ironically, my greatest sympathy lies for the parents and Pop in this novel (I don't think that was Cole's intent).
In the simplest terms, this book read like a series of "f*ck around and find out" situations where
the characters keep making poor, illogical, sometimes unrealistic decisions. I don't know how Cole wanted us to feel about the characters or plot progression, but I vacillated between annoyed and apathetic, and finally landed on disappointed at the end of the read.
Groundskeeping does not deliver on the promises it makes in its description. It's a weak 2.5 for me.
Vague spoiler: the primary characters, Owen and Alma, come with a bundle of red flags each. They are poor communicators who repeatedly judge one another and fail to have mature exchanges. Cole gives us deeply flawed primary characters who don't have any particularly endearing or redeeming qualities. Ironically, my greatest sympathy lies for the parents and Pop in this novel (I don't think that was Cole's intent).
In the simplest terms, this book read like a series of "f*ck around and find out" situations where
the characters keep making poor, illogical, sometimes unrealistic decisions. I don't know how Cole wanted us to feel about the characters or plot progression, but I vacillated between annoyed and apathetic, and finally landed on disappointed at the end of the read.
Groundskeeping does not deliver on the promises it makes in its description. It's a weak 2.5 for me.
Really enjoyed this cosy, low stakes and strangely compelling coming of age story. The conversational writing style is peppered with lyrical passages that reflect the protagonist’s writerly ambitions, and even though Owen withholds information about himself from the reader, largely focusing his attention on those around him, this helps inform his character. The main thrust of the loose narrative, his romance with Alma, raises interesting questions around authorship and appropriation, and subverts tropes by engaging thoughtfully with their different backgrounds and the limitations of their respective worldviews. A story about storytelling, the meta-textual allusions to the nature of the narrative can occasionally feel forced and risk feeling overwritten, but overall I found this to be a really promising debut novel.
Groundskeeping is Lee Cole's debut novel. The story focuses on 28 year old Owen who has returned home to Kentucky. He moves into his Pop’s basement and takes a grounds keeping job at a local college. Soon after he meets Alma who is at the college as a writer in residence. They bond over their shared passion for writing but are very different people with very different upbringings.
Groundskeeping is a "coming of age" love story but it is also a story about families and how they shape us and how the way we have been brought up ultimately affects the way we approach our relationships. I loved how it shone a light on relationships particularly those in their early stages. The exchange of information between two people and how little comments can hurt another person or make them think differently about their partner – so realistic and relatable.
This book was quiet and contemplative but was also intensely observant. Owen is an aspiring writer and because of this he notices so much of the ordinary around him. I really liked that it was told from the male POV as it gave a completely different vibe to the millennial girl POV, while still giving shades of Rooney (urgh sorry about that overdone comparison). To make up for that comment I’ll also add that at times I felt like I was reading a male version of Ann Patchett – no wonder she blurbed it!
This was a very American feeling book and had so many cultural references I didn't get and had to look up! But this made it feel quite authentic.
Just a couple of gripes – it was yet another book with no speech quotes. What gives? Is everyone abandoning punctuation? It feels like it is no longer a novelty anymore and I feel conflicted about this! Also I didn’t appreciate how heavy it was on the smoking references but small things really.
This was a very well written book which doesn’t have an fast moving plotline. It was more a character study that nonetheless travels at a decent pace. I’m not sure I understand exactly how the ending landed but I enjoyed my experience of it!
Thanks so much to @allenandunwin for my #gifted copy.
Groundskeeping is a "coming of age" love story but it is also a story about families and how they shape us and how the way we have been brought up ultimately affects the way we approach our relationships. I loved how it shone a light on relationships particularly those in their early stages. The exchange of information between two people and how little comments can hurt another person or make them think differently about their partner – so realistic and relatable.
This book was quiet and contemplative but was also intensely observant. Owen is an aspiring writer and because of this he notices so much of the ordinary around him. I really liked that it was told from the male POV as it gave a completely different vibe to the millennial girl POV, while still giving shades of Rooney (urgh sorry about that overdone comparison). To make up for that comment I’ll also add that at times I felt like I was reading a male version of Ann Patchett – no wonder she blurbed it!
This was a very American feeling book and had so many cultural references I didn't get and had to look up! But this made it feel quite authentic.
Just a couple of gripes – it was yet another book with no speech quotes. What gives? Is everyone abandoning punctuation? It feels like it is no longer a novelty anymore and I feel conflicted about this! Also I didn’t appreciate how heavy it was on the smoking references but small things really.
This was a very well written book which doesn’t have an fast moving plotline. It was more a character study that nonetheless travels at a decent pace. I’m not sure I understand exactly how the ending landed but I enjoyed my experience of it!
Thanks so much to @allenandunwin for my #gifted copy.